


or does it explode

by angryelftwink



Series: tears and the sea [2]
Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Gen, Selkie AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 05:29:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14710014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angryelftwink/pseuds/angryelftwink
Summary: Renarin finds out.





	or does it explode

“Adolin, what’s ‘selkie’ mean?”

The two boys lay on the carpet, playing Mastermind. Renarin is still deciding between purple and orange for his last peg.

“I don’t know.”

Renarin scrunches up his face and plays the purple one. “Oh.”

“Why do you ask?” Three colors right, two in the wrong spots.

“Dad called me a ‘damn selkie boy’ today.” He quickly places the correct one, and stares thoughtfully at a green peg. “I thought about if maybe he meant ‘silky boy’, but I’m not silky, am I?”

Adolin reaches out to ruffle his brother’s hair. “Nah, you’re not silky.”

Renarin sticks his tongue out, places the green peg, and fixes his hair. “Do you think it’s a good thing?”

He fumbles around with the pegs, looking away from Adolin.

“Of course it is,” Adolin says softly.

Renarin places the last peg, and looks up. Adolin flips the shield. It’s a match.

 

~

 

“Jaaasnah.”

He climbs up into her lap as she sits in the big armchair with her books. Jasnah sighs and puts _A Vindication of the Rights of Women_ aside.

“Yes, Renarin?”

He wriggles around a little, betraying his emotion. “What’s ‘selkie’ mean?”

Jasnah’s frozen. She stares down at the boy in her lap.

“Dad called me a ‘damn selkie boy’,” he continues, watching the carpet as his leg bounces. “And I… What does it mean, Jasnah?”

“He never told you,” she says, mouth dry. “Holy fuck.”

“You’re not allowed to say bad words around me.” It’s disingenuous. He knows and uses most of them already.

“No, no this is…” Jasnah takes a deep breath. “Renarin, a selkie is a… it’s a person who can turn into a seal.”

He’s quiet.

“I can’t turn into a seal.”

“No,” she says, quietly. “The way it works— you have a sealskin, and if you put it on, then you could become a seal.”

“But _I don’t have a sealskin_.” He holds up one hand. “I have a people skin.”

“Your father has it.” Jasnah takes her cousin’s hand. “Your mother was a selkie. He took her skin, and that bound her to stay. Adolin was born human, but… you weren’t.”

Renarin is silent, squeezing tight onto Jasnah’s hand. His legs swing slowly.

He looks up.

“Mom was bound to stay because… Dad had her sealskin?”

“Yes.”

“So does that mean— ”

“No, Renarin.”

He nods and stares at the carpet again.

“I didn’t think so.”

 

~

 

The door creaks open, and Renarin tiptoes in.

“Go away,” Dalinar slurs.

“Dad?” The voice is shaky, younger than his ten years.

“Go away,” he repeats, harsher this time.

“I just wanted you to know…” He clenches his hands into fists. “Even if you gave back my skin, I’d stay. No matter what. I promise, Dad.”

Dalinar looks up, eyes flashing in a snarl. “Get the hell out of here.”

When the door is shut behind him, Renarin stops. He presses his hands against it.

“I love you, Dad.”

Tears sting at his eyes, and Renarin wipes them into his sleeve.

Salt water, he thinks. Tears and the sea.


End file.
